March 28, 2012

Hero or Villain in episode-title?

One thing I personally find interesting about He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animation produced by Mike Young Productions was translations in other countries.The example today comes from italian translation for season 1 episode "Mekaneck's Lament".

The title is very descriptive about the established heroic warrior and enticing in its own way.But the italian name for the episode is "Il ritorno del Conte Marzo" that translates into "The Return of Count Marzo", which turns the tables on episode-title featuring a villain of the episode instead of the hero.

Also what I find interesting is that until this episode, Count Marzo had not made any appearance or gotten his name mentioned on the show.

In the US, the official description for the episode by Cartoon Network didn't reveal who the villain was:

For any fan of the Filmation series, Count Marzo was a semi-known character, appearing in 3 episodes. So his appearance in the new cartoon came as a suprise to many.As for italian fans the episode-title "spoils" this big reveal, but depending on the fan; that can be a good thing just as much as a bad thing.

Would be interested to hear how the italian fans feel about this topic...

2 comments:

I do not like the Italian title at all. It implies that Count Marzo returns in the MYP show, though he was never in the series until that episode. It also says to me that unless you know of the Filmation cartoon with Count Marzo that is the only way he "returns". The Filmation and MYP cartoon do not go together, so I do not understand the logic of the title. And also, it spoils the surprise of who the "villain" is for that episode.